From Cryptocurrency to Blockchain: Machine Power and Digital Order

Can machines exercise authority? To what extent are machines capable of acting autonomously and making decisions? Do “machine power” and “digital order” imply that machines can dominate over humans, or could they suggest that machines are enforcers of a human-designed order? Why is digital currency considered as the most ideal ‘beachhead’ for deploying blockchain technology to realize machine power establishing a digital order? In Chapter 11, we explore how the digitization of currency challenges traditional financial systems and introduce a new paradigm of machine-driven social order. We address the conceptual shift from human-dependent financial systems to machine-operated blockchain networks, considering the implications for societal rules and governance in the digital era. This chapter is an insightful examination of the transformative impact of blockchain technology on currency and societal structures.